MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX

MASTER OF THE PAGE-TURNER

Margaret Peterson Haddix was born on April 9, 1964 on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio. Her father was a farmer and her

mother was a nurse. She has three siblings: two brothers and a sister. She went to college at Miami University in Ohio and majored in

English/Journalism, Creative Writing, and History. She worked as a copy editor at a newspaper in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and as a reporter for the Indianapolis News in Indianapolis. She also has been a freelance

writer and a community college instructor at Danville Community College in Danville, Illinois. She met her husband while in college as he was also a journalism major. When he got a job as a city editor in

Danville, Illinois, Ms. Haddix decided to focus on writing fiction to avoid having her husband as her boss at a newspaper. They now live

outside of Columbus, Ohio and have two children, Meredith and Connor. To date, Ms. Haddix has written more than 25 books with over

4.1 million books sold.

Farm land in Ohio

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio

Running Out of Time was her first novel published in 1995. Ms. Haddix is probably best known for The Shadow Children series and The Missing series. She has, however, written many stand-alone books for both younger children and young adults. She also wrote Book 10, Into the Gauntlet, for the 39 Clues series.

The Shadow Children series

The Missing series—Found, Sent,

Sabotaged, Torn, and Caught (to be

released on September 4,

2012).

Margaret Peterson Haddix—Self Portrait

Ms. Haddix grew up in a family of readers, “a long line of bookworms”, she

says. Some of her favorite books/authors as

a child were: E.L. Konigsburg, Harriet the Spy, Louise May Alcott’s

Little Women, Anne Frank, Rebecca of

Sunnybrook Farm and many, many others. Ms.

Haddix’s grandfather and brothers were interested in science fiction and she

would “borrow” books from them as well. For her, becoming a writer was a natural step from loving books to wanting to create books of her

own.

Running Out of Time was Ms. Haddix’s first novel published in 1995. At the time she was working as a reporter for a newspaper in Indianapolis. She did a story about a nearby historical village called Conner Prairie where they role-play life in the 1800s. She wondered what it was like to live in one century and work in another. Some of the “villagers” said on slow days when there weren’t many tourists, they would sometimes forget that it wasn’t the 1800s. Ms. Haddix was intrigued by the idea that the tourists could be hidden and the village children were led to believe it was really the past—thus the idea for Running Out of Time, but it would take her nine years before it was written, revised, and finally published.

Awards for Running Out of Time : •A Junior Library Guild Selection, 1995 •American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, 1995 •School Library Journal Starred Review, 1995 •Edgar Award Nominee, 1996 •A YALSA Quick Pick for Young Adults, 1996 •California Young Reader Medal Nominee, 1996 •A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, 1997 •Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award, 1998 •Arizona Young Readers’ Award, 1998 •Maryland Library Association Black-Eyed Susan Award, 1998 •Nevada Young Readers' Award Nominee, 1998 •Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Nominee, 1998 •Rebecca Caudhill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee, 1998 •Pacific Northwest Young Readers’ Choice Award Nominee, 1998 •Nutmeg Book Award Nominee, 1999

Conner Prairie—see video here

Margaret Peterson Haddixon time travel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dLusrjcl_k&feature=player_embedded

Meet Margaret Peterson Haddix: